MSC1: The Dating Dare
by Mewtata
Summary: A self challenge to write a Mary Sue story line and make it interesting. Without just waking a parody. This one is about a random Hufflepuff who happens to live on the same street as THE Harry Potter. Romance kindof/sortof blossoms. I should note that I don't necessarily mean with the Harry Potter.
1. Chapter 1

Mission: MSC, aka the Marry Sue Challenge

Objective: a challenge for me as a writer; infiltrate the Mary Sue's territory, but resist conversion

MSC1: initiate a romance between an OOC and an existing character

Difficultly: low

Universe: Harry Potter

OOC Agent: Philomene Bagley

Philomene was a rather unremarkable girl. She was a Hufflepuff for starters, and not one of the interesting ones. Her grades were average enough, though she had never been very outgoing, and she was pretty in a plain sort of way. She had a couple flaws, but none of them were too bad. She had a couple talents, but none of those were too bad either. Her biggest talent was being able to blend in, which she normally found quite useful. Unfortunately, that talent seemed to be on the fritz today.

"So do you see him often?"

"I guess so. I mean, our house is only a few away so…"

"So did you see him on the night when he escaped by flying car?" Estelle asked.

One of the others squealed "Ooooh! Yeah, that's one of my favorites! My brother's friend's cousin heard about it from one of the Weasley's!"

Philomene shook her head apologetically "I was sleeping. Most people do sleep at night, you know? It's the only reason it wasn't all over the news."

"But the racket _must_ have woken you!"

A chorus of agreement rose up from the others. Philomene shook her head.

"Not really. I mean, I did wake up, but only in time to see the taillights."

An equal chorus of disappointment followed, but didn't last for long.

You see, Philomene did have one rather interesting trait, though not through any fault of her own. Her address just happened to be Number 2 Privet Drive. In other words, a couple houses down from Harry Potter.

The girls, all prim and pretty and interested, were gathered around her, in a gaggle of giggles. Really more of a prison of giggles; she couldn't seem to find her way out. A girl named Estelle was the leader. She was pretty in the look-at-me-_now _kind of way. Her eyes were bright green, while her hair was brunette, and flowed around her shoulders. Her nails were long and painted, possibly press on, and her face was covered with freckles.

"Have you ever talked to him?" Estelle asked intently.

"N-no. His family seems really mean, you know?"

"_I_ wouldn't let that stop me. I mean, they're muggles, right? Not like they can do much to you."

"But- we still aren't allowed to use magic."

No one seemed to hear this, and in all fairness she had said it very quietly.

"Lucky _you_," one of them exclaimed "You get to see him all year. I don't even get to see my boyfriend that often!"

"I would ask _him _out if I lived that close! You'd be way closer than anyone else."

"Oh yeah, that would be so great!"

Philomene thought this was a good time to make her exit, before the conversation took any sort of unfortunate, possibly even creepy, turn. They were distracted chattering among each other again, so she to slip between a couple and out the door.

The hallways were pretty busy, as the last of the final exams had just rounded up, but she managed to find a quiet corner to hide away in. Then she proceeded to be unnoticeable and boring, in the hopes that there would be no more ambushes by fangirls.

It wasn't her fault she happened to live near _the_ famous Harry Potter; her parents had moved without particularly asking her. In fact, she was pretty sure they didn't know Harry was there, even now. Her mum was almost always away on business, so she never saw Harry or the Dursleys, and her dad was a muggle. They vaguely knew that there _was_ a kid named Harry, but they mostly kept away because he was known to be trouble on their street.

Philomene was not as fortunate. She had seen Harry enough to recognize him, and she knew what he looked like because _of course she did. _She had managed not to mention it for several years now, but eventually it had slipped out and the fangirls had come for all the juicy gossip.

Maybe she would set up a video camera at home or something; if they were going to be voyeurs, they might as well do it directly an honestly.

Not that she would ever actually do that, of course. That would be creepy and horrid, and she was pretty sure most witches didn't even know what a video camera was, much less how to watch a tape.

She settled down in one of the corners of the hall, and waited for the crows to clear a little, running the day's plans through her head while she did so. She still had to finish packing for the train, and tidy up her space. She needed to send an owl ahead to remind her dad she was coming home; sometimes he forgot.

Not to mention, her little sister Jenny _loved_ getting owls. She had always been looking forward to getting one of her own. Jenny was ten now, and hadn't shown any sign of magic. It was unlikely that she would get a letter, but Philomene had decided there would be the biggest, grandest, prettiest owl you had ever seen for Jenny, whether she was a witch or not. Sure they were a bit odd for a muggle, but Philomene didn't care.

"Excuse me?"

Philomene looked up, and turned bright red. Harry Potter was there. _The_ Harry Potter; with Weasley at his right shoulder and Granger at his left. He was holding out some paper; it looked like some old homework she had dropped.

"Is this yours?"

"Yesthankyou" she snatched it back as if afraid it was going to run off, and turned an even brighter shade of red.

Potter gave her an odd look, and walked off, friends in tow. Philomene buried he head in her hands, groaning. She wasn't sure what embarrassed her more; looking like an idiot, or being flushed enough to even _act_ like an idiot. She thought all that fangirl mess was below her.

She rushed off into the crowd, not caring anymore about how busy it was, and off to her room to finish packing. She tried to think about owls, big magnificent owls for Jenny, rather than the heat on her face.


	2. Chapter 2

The train was noisy, as always. The chatter of the students bled through the doors, even those closed, and the steady rattle of the wheels on the track seeped up through the floor. It was comforting sometimes, as long as it wasn't too intrusive. Philomene found the emptiest car she could, and assumed a little corner all to herself. Outside, the castle retreated into the distance, and was replaced by the grassy countryside. She sighed, and closed her eyes. In here, with the door closed, it was actually pretty peaceful. Maybe she could get a nice nap in before they got to the train station.

"Hey Phillie!"

Philomene's eyes snapped open, and she found Estelle, horrifyingly adorable freckles and everything,two inches from her face. She shrank back into her seat, as if she could camouflage herself into the cushions. Estelle, catching on this, giggled a little. Unfortunately, Philomene failed to become one with the cushions, and Estelle got down to business.

"So Phillie, the other girls and me were talking-" That wasn't good. Estelle and her posse talking never ended well for lesser mortals. "-and we think you should ask Harry Potter out."

Philomene's eyes widened to the size of platters, and she gulped. Estelle didn't seem to notice.

"You _clearly_ don't get out enough. We see you in the corner all the time, just sitting there. So you need to go out on a date. And you live next to _Harry Potter_, so it's obvious who that date should be!"

She beamed, as if she was a pet poodle who had just learned a new trick. Philomene opened her mouth, but all that came out was a strangled sounding squeak. Estelle giggled again.

"And _if you don't_, then me and the others will… um… we'll think of something." She flashed a smile "Just pretend that I said something properly scary okay?"

Philomene squeaked again.

"Good. Now, you have all summer, but the sooner the better okay?"

She lept to her feet, and skipped out into the hallway, her lovely hair bouncing behind her. She turned to shut the door, and suddenly Philomene unfroze.

"Wait!"

Estelle stopped. She smile again "What is it Phillie?"

"He- He'll just reject me."

Estelle laughed, loud and long.

"Don't be silly Phillie!" She paused "Oh hey, that rhymed."

"Anyway, from what you've told us, he doesn't get out much either right? So he'll be absolutely super happy to have a classmate around. Plus, you're super pretty."

She was gone before Philomene could protest, and by the speed she left with, that was probably on purpose. Philomene was to stumble over her feelings in silence.

She had a very hard time enjoying the rest of the ride home. On one hand, she was quite sure that if she didn't obey the Queen of Gossip then something rather horrid would be though up by the end of summer. On the other, going on a date because of a dare, or possibly a threat (she wasn't actually sure) was morally questionable.

Anyway, what did she know about Harry Potter?

She ended up getting off the train without reaching any sort of decision, and her musings were promptly uninterrupted as a little bundle of joy collided with her stomach. She nearly toppled backwards, but the impact hadn't been entirely unexpected. She glanced down, and found her little sister clinging to her waist. She smiled softly.

"Hi Jenny. Had a good year?"

Jenny looked up and beamed, and any gloom that Philomene had was quickly blasted away by the heat of her little sister's rainbow-joy radiation. They both laughed, without really having a reason for laughing. Her dad was there as well, holding his arms out for a big hug. She hobble over, because Jenny wasn't letting go, and they all hugged together.

As she was squished until she couldn't breath, she caught a familiar face exiting the train. Unlike Philomene, his face started out relatively chipper, but quickly fell to gloomy as he saw his family. It was Harry of course; he always looked like that when he got off. The Dursley's faces were hardly pleasant either, and just being nearby made Philomene turn on her blending-in talent full tilt. It would be even worse by the time they pulled into their driveway.

She tugged at both her sister and father's arms, all too eager to leave already. They got into the car without much complaint, and drove off. By that time, Philomene was so very blended in that her Dad had to double check to make sure she was sitting in the car.

"You know Philomene" He said "I wonder if you might be using some sort of spell subconsciously to do that."

It was a rhetorical question, so Philomene didn't answer, but Jenny did.

"It's not a spell Dad! If Philomene wanted to be invisible, she'd just be invisible!"

He shrugged "Well, just so long as you don't get in trouble Philomene. We don't want you expelled or anything."

She nodded obediently. It wasn't a spell of course; she was just very boring looking, and knew how to use it.

They came to a stop light, and the Dursley's car pulled up next to them. Philomene shrank back. There were Mister and Missus Dursley sitting in the front, looking like they had bitten into lemons. Dudley was in the back, and blathering on about thing that were probably very boring. Harry was staring out the window, looking at nothing in particular.

Philomene had to admit, he wasn't exactly... bad looking. Truth be told, he was rather_ good_ looking; very much so in fact. And he did look sort of lonely.

What Philomene did know about him was that he was famous, and heroic, and brave. He had lots of friends, and had saved the entire school lots of times. He was certainly a good person, even though his record of getting into trouble kept him from being a good boy. And he was indeed rather good looking.

The light turned green, and the cars both moved forward. For a moment, as the Dursleys passed them, it looked like Harry was staring right at her. A shiver ran down her spine, and the blood rushed to her face. Okay, maybe she did have some interest in him.

Just a little.


	3. Chapter 3

Philomene wasn't lurking, or stalking either; that was very important to know. Yes, she happened to be spending a lot of time outside of Harry Potter's house. Not directly outside, of course, but sort of nearby and suspiciously close. Yes she hadn't moved in a while, because her legs locked up every time she tried to move closer. Yes, it was probably a little creepy for her to just stand there. But she was definitely _not_ lurking. She was just nervous.

She tried to look casual, and when her knees started to wobble she sat down on the wall of number three Privet Drive. There were a few people staring at her, despite her best attempts to disappear, and some of the neighborhood kids were already giggling at her.

Then, because things could always get worse, Dudley Dursley came out of the house. Maybe he had some sort of radar for teasing possibilities, because he made a beeline for Philomene. His was trying to look blank, like he wasn't specifically targeting her, but his mouth kept assuming a stupid-looking grin. If she wasn't so nervous, Philomene might have laughed.

"You've been standing there for _hours_. Aren't you going to do something?"

Philomene shrank back and vigorously shook her head "Just a nice day" she whispered.

"A nice day huh? You look like you're glued to the wall."

This would have been a fantastic point for Harry Potter to come swooping out of his house and rescue her. Unfortunately, he probably didn't make a habit of patrolling windows for possible damsels in distress, so Philomene was left to rescue herself. She was doing poorly.

She stood there, looking at her feet, while Dudley waited for some kind of response. The silence was so long that both of them started to just feel sort of awkward. Philomene contemplated forgetting the whole endeavor, and just high-tailing it back to her house as fast as she could.

"I'm going to ask Harry Potter out."

She then turned so very bright red that her limbs started to go numb from blood loss. Dudley stared at her blankly, because he clearly hadn't expected that. A few birds twittered in the background, as they were happily oblivious to her plight. Then Dudley snorted.

"Fine then, go on up."

"What?"

"Go. On Up."

He stood aside with a flourish about as graceful as a beached walrus, and Philomene was left with an open passage to the door and a new audience. She gulped, and took a couple unsteady steps. Dudley was leaning on the wall now, just as she had been, and was quietly waiting for her to do what she said. This hadn't been how she wanted to do this.

One step, and then another; trying to move without thinking about. She was on the driveway now- oh geeze she was on Harry Potter's driveway. Then she aiming towards the door, she stumbled because she couldn't feel her feet, and then she was at the door. _Knock_, she told her hands, but they remained fists at her sides.

Okay, she was just going to raise her right arm; that was all. Then she was just going to move it a bit, in a way that happened to collide with the door. **BANG**. Her fist collided with much more force than she had intended, producing a very loud response from the wood. There was a pause, and then some muffled shouting inside.

_"Get the door Potter!"_

Another pause, and then the door opened. Philomene could feel Dudley Dursley's eyes staring at her, and she could swear Estelle and her posse were all staring her way too. Harry Potter stood there, heroic and pretty and slightly rugged, and he was staring at her and waiting for her to say something.

"Hi." She squeaked.

"Hello."

"I'm Philomene."

"I'm Harry. Was there something you wanted?"

She opened her mouth, and then decided to run away. Except she didn't, because her mouth was talking again.

"I- Iwantedtoknowifyouwerebusyth isweekend"

"Sorry?"

Philomene took a deep breath, and tried to make the words come out evenly.

"Are you- busy? Thisweekend?"

He blinked, long and slow.

"No. I'm not."

Philomene's anxiety went through the roof, and highly aware that she stuttering like an idiot. What had been the plan after that? Did she have a plan? Oh dear; no she didn't.

"Movie?" it came out as a squeak. _Why was it always a squeak? _

Harry scratched his head "I- uh don't have much money. Well, not the sort you can use for movie theaters"

"Oh. Me neither. That's a problem."

"I should also mention that I'm interested in someone else."

"Oh."

_Oh. _Her heart hit the floor, like a leaden weight. Her mind stalled. She stood there, like an idiot, staring at him.

She forced a smile on her face.

"Okay. Well, I'll see you around then."

"See you around."

She turned around, and walked away stiffly. Behind her, the door closed.

Then, with it all over, Philomene realized that Harry Potter had no idea who she was. He didn't recognize her from class, or from a couple of houses down, or from anywhere. Of course he didn't; they had never even talked before, why would he know her? As far as Harry Potter was concerned, she was just a random girl who had shown up at the door.

For some reason, that realization made her leaden heart drop right through the floor, and then go tumbling right into the metaphorical basement. She bit her lip, and shook her head. It wasn't like she had really cared anyway; it had just been a stupid dare. None the less, her vision went a little wobbly, because for some reason her eyes were starting to water.


	4. Chapter 4

Dudley was still there, leaning on the wall. Philomene didn't look at him, and hoped that he had grown bored with the whole thing. After all, surely he had better things to do than tease her.

"So what was _that_ all about?"

Apparently not.

"I mean, you can't actually like him right? That would be loopy."

Philomene muttered something under her breath.

"Eh? What was that Philomene?"

She turned to stare at him, her gaze brooding and not a little hostile "A couple girls at school dared me to do it, and I did it, and now he rejected me _okay_?"

"So you'll do something like that on a dare?"

Philomene shook her head.

"No? But you _did_."

She shook her head again, but she wasn't sure what she was saying no to. She just wanted him to be quiet.

"What if _I_ dared you to go on a date, huh? Would it work, or is it just for your friends?"

Why wouldn't he just _shut up_ already? She kept shaking her head nonsensically, and he just kept talking. He just _kept talking_. When she looked away, the stupid flabby boy moved to fill her vision again.

"What if I dared you to go on a date with _me_ huh?"

Philomene's temper finally snapped, and she glared at him.

"Fine."

He stopped short, clearly surprised "What?"

"_I take your dare." _She said, and her voice was like ice. "We are going to an ice cream place, I am going to _pig out_, and _you _are buying."

Then, without waiting for him to respond, she whirled around and stalked away. He would run as soon as her back was turned; run to mommy and complain about the big mean neighbor girl. That was fine; she had her billfold with her, and planned to pig out anyway. Maybe she could put on a few pounds and stupid Estelle would stop raising her hopes about being pretty and stuff.

The ice-cream shop was a little place with garish neon lights, a near empty parking lot, and no drive through. Everything they served was pretty horrible, but it was close and if you bought five chocolate Sundays and get the six free. She was going to need that.

The floor inside was made of cracked tile, and the seats were plastic and splitting. Overhead, there was a rickety fan that wobbled whenever it was turned on, and looked like it was going to fall. There was also a long trail of silly string across the ceiling, because no one had ever figured how to get it off and now it was fossilized. The counter was empty right now, but that was fine, she could wait.

She plopped down at one of the less rickety chairs at the counter, and stared at the menu, trying to decide what to order.

A moment later, Dudley plopped down beside her.

She turned, and stared at him instead. He looked back; a little scared looking.

"What?"

"You followed me."

"Was I not supposed to?" He asked. "I was pretty sure that most dates needed two people."

She couldn't tell if he was mocking her or genuinely confused. Neither would have surprised her.

The door to the back room opened, and one of the employees walked out. He was chewing bubble gum and his face was covered in zits.

"Ready to order?" He asked.

Suddenly, Philomene realized the full implications of what was going on.

Dudley Dursley had asked her out on a date. She had accepted. She was now on a date. With Dudley Dursley. At the absolute most rundown and nasty place she knew of. Her face turned bright red, and she shifted her gaze to her hands.

"I, um- hear their chocolate Sundays are good. Do you want one?"

Dudley turned to the man at the counter, and gave him what may have been meant as an bossy look (it came out looking a little more like pouting).

"Get us six chocolate Sundays. And you better put extra chocolate on all of them."

Philomene started to giggle, and Dudley turned to stare at her again.

"What?"

She couldn't stop laughing, even though it made her look stupid and not a little crazy. Then, Dudley started laughing too. The two sat there, guffawing like morons, while the shop employee slowly edged away from them.

Without really knowing how it happened, Philomene found herself eating ice cream with Dudley Dursley. Despite her bold declarations, she only ended up eating two and a half bowls, but for her that was most defiantly pigging out. Not to mention she felt a little sick afterwards.

Dudley, on the other hand, finished up the remaining three and a half that they had ordered, and ordered another just to be safe. When he finished up that one, he got up, licked his fingers, and wiped his sleeve across his mouth. A long, sticky, trail was smeared across the cloth.

"You want to go for a walk?" He asked.

Philomene nodded, and got up. They both forgot about the empty plastic cups, and the employee was mightily annoyed when he found the mess afterwards. They walked out onto the street, going nowhere in particular.

The streetlights slowly flickered on as the sun set, and the stars began to come out. Philomene looked up into the sky, and began quietly musing over her astrology lessons. Dudley licked at his teeth and gums to get the remains of the chocolate out of them. The silence was long, and a little awkward, but neither of them seemed to mind.


	5. Chapter 5

The lights from the houses glimmered in the night, and the streetlamps glowed gently. Philomene and Dudley were walking closely together; close enough that every now and then, their hands would brush. The crickets, what few there were, echoed throughout the empty streets, and the light buzz of conversation ebbed from lit dining rooms.

Dudley's labored breathing, however, was quickly drowning all that out.

They had to plunk down on the street curb just about halfway back; resting so that he wouldn't pass out. Of course, it _was_ a fair walk to and from the ice-cream shop. Well, not really, but an okay walk, and apparently going both there and back was too much for him.

"Do you need me to get help?" Philomene asked (again). She was actually starting to get a little worried; he was making sounds like a backed up vacuum cleaner.

"No I'm— _WHEEZE— fine_." He said, and then proved his point by lapsing into several more bouts of gasping.

She tried not to stare too much as he heaved in and out for air. In all her years on that block, she had never seen Dudley walk more than two blocks. She hadn't thought much of it before, but she was starting to wonder if he had been trying to impress her tonight.

The gasping subsided to a soft panting, and Dudley's face slowly turned to a bright pink rather than a brilliant crimson. He relaxed a little, no longer doubled over, and they both ended up leaning back to look at the stars.

"So… how did Harry Potter end up in your house?"

Dudley turned to look at her, with a face like she had asked him about his bowl movements.

"Why do you care about him so much?"

"I— don't."

"Then let's talk about something else.

"Okay. Um, what do you like to do?"

Dudley opened his mouth, and then paused. He thought for a bit, and then replied:

"Video games. Lots of them." He puffed up with pride "I get about twenty every year, so I have a lot of them. Not that they last me very long. Do you have any?"

"No, my school doesn't… allow them."

"Oh. We could play a few later."

"I'd be terrible."

"I'd teach you."

His face was determined, and despite herself Philomene found herself smiling. She wasn't sure if it was amusement or if she was pleased with his sweetness.

"Okay. Then I should teach you something."

"Like what?"

"Um… gardening?"

"…o— kay."

His face looked like a kid who was asked to eat broccoli, and it amused Philomene so much that she started to laugh. A loud, cheerful laugh that surprised both of them. She immediately stopped, and they stared at each other like a flying purple pig had just gone by. Then a smile quirked across Dudley's face, and Philomene started giggling again.

"I'm not sure I knew you _could_ laugh like that." Dudley said.

"And I— _snort—_never knew you hated gardening so much!"

He looked abashed "We should do something else."

"Okay—_giggle—_ how about dressmaking?"

Dudley's face immediately contorted again, and Philomene collapsed into cackles of glee. At first Dudley started to look offended. Then he seemed to change his mind. At first he smiled, and then he actually started pulling faces. They were delightfully grotesque, and every new one sent Philomene into another fit of giggles. This time she was the one gasping for breath, and even when he stopped, she kept having snorting aftershocks.

When it finally stopped, she found herself leaning on Dudley's shoulder. He was warm, and she was pretty sure they were both blushing. She contemplated pulling away, but found it easier not to. His rolls of fat actually made his arms rather soft, like pillows, and it was quite comfortable to lean on him. She cast around for another topic.

"What's your favorite animal?" She asked.

"Dogs. Yours?"

"Badgers actually."

He gave her a funny look "Why?"

"Well, I suppose you could say that they remind me of my friends. My sister's favorite animal is an owl."

"An owl?"

"Yeah, she wants one as a pet."

There was a pause. A long, oddly silent, pause, then:

"Owls are stupid."

Philomene looked over at Dudley, and found that at some point, his expression had turned to a glower. She tried to understand, and could only come up with the idea that he thought owls made really bad pets.

"Well… it's because of a few years ago." She tried to explain "When the street filled up with all those owls from one side to the other, do you remember?"

Dudley's scowl grew deeper. She laughed again, but this time it was weak and forced.

"I suppose you would tell her to get a dog?"

"Is Jenny a witch?"

The question was so sudden, and said with such blatant venom that Philomene actually flinched. She pulled back, and looked down at her hands, her voice reduced to a whisper.

"Well what if she was?"

Dudley turned to look at her. She shrank back, and smiled uneasily.

"I'm- pretty sure she isn't a witch."

Dudley relaxed "Good." He leaned back, and scrubbed his hands through his hair "Sorry. Do you think I'm crazy now?"

"No not so much" she mumbled. Her bravado was gone though, and she was once again a little wallflower.

"Harry, my cousin, says he's a witch."

"You mean a wizard?"

"I mean a moonlight prancing caldron using nutjob, that's what I mean. A weirdo. He's got an owl too. That's why I asked."

Philomene found a loose string on her sleeve, and began picking at it. They weren't making eye contact now.

"I'm not supposed to tell people that actually." Dudley said. He looked sheepish "but you won't tell, right?"

"I won't tell."

They both stood up, almost at the same time.

"Thanks." Dudley said. He seemed to mean it. Then he rubbed his head, looking uncomfortable.

"There's nothing wrong with owls, really. Just cause I don't like them… I could even ask him to get one for you. Harry, I mean. He's a freak, but I bet he could find a really good one."

Philomene looked up at him, and suddenly she was smiling again "That would be really nice."

He stood up "It's late. We should walk back now."

They did so, under the stars and the streetlamps. Dudley walked her to her door. It was only a house away from his, but it was still a sweet gesture. He leaned in for a kiss, and then Philomene kissed him.

It was their first kiss. Not just their first kiss with each other: their first kiss with anyone. As such, it was messy, and a little slobbery, and they both did a bad job. Somehow though, they didn't mind so much. Then they kissed again, and they did a bit better.

Dudley walked away, and Philomene went inside. She pressed her hands to her forehead, and found that her skin was quite hot. She could feel her heartbeat going bu-dum, ba-dum against her chest.

In all logic, she should have walked right back out and told him the truth. In all logic, she should have been worried sick about how he would respond. She was sure that she would be worrying about that later, and regret all this later, and be freaking out. Yet somehow, right now, she was just really happy.


	6. Chapter 6

Philomene half expected to never see Dudley again. After all, they barely knew each other, and he was probably just trying to make Harry jealous. She made sure to tell herself this over and over, so she would be ready for the eventual disappointment. So when he showed up the next day, she was actually pretty surprised.

"Dudley!" she said, and her expression must have been something.

"What? Did I do something bad?"

"No! I just- why don't you come in?"

She stepped aside, and he did so. Only then did Philomene see the box in his arms. It was filled to the brim with video games.

She shrank "Ah- I don't-"

"What?" He looked down, and a sulk came across his face "Oh. Of course. You didn't really want to learn."

"That's- I just don't have a console! I want to learn! I really want to learn, especially from you!" She was overdoing it, and now she was beet red _again_.

None the less, it seemed to be the right thing to say. He brightened up immediately, much to her relief.

"No worries about that," he said, and plunged a hand into the box.

Games burst out onto the floor as he yanked, and a large console emerged, along with cords. He grinned, slightly crooked and puckering his chubby cheeks. Philomene couldn't help but stare.

"Um… you know how to hook that up then?"

The grin froze on his face. The answer was rather clearly negative.

A few minutes later, they were both on their floor around the television. Philomene was reading instructions from her father's laptop (she had none of her own because tech+magic=BAD), and Dudley was on his hands and knees, trying to shove cords into the right slots without knocking the television over.

"Okay, that one goes in the little red slot, and the other goes in the blue one, and I think that one should go somewhere orange?"

"There isn't an orange."

"Um, maybe it's at the top?"

Dudley rummaged around, and the television wobbled precariously. Philomene scooted a bit closer so that she could catch it if need be.

"So you never told me who dared you."

"What?"

"To go out on a date with Harry; you said it was a dare."

"Uh- oh, yeah!"

"So?"

"Just a friend from school."

"But why the runt?"

_Because he's the famous chosen one, _she almost said, because it was true. Then she stopped, and changed her answer, because she wasn't supposed to know that.

"Well, we heard about his problems right? Like being in- gangs and stuff?" she couldn't quite remember what the official story of Harry's school actually was, but she figured it was close enough.

"Are you into deli- delinqwa— bad guys then?" He peered under the television to see her answer.

Phiomene turned crimson as usual, and she had to admit that a few crushes may or may not have been bad boys. In her head anyway. She shrunk back and muttered some reminder about it being a dare. Dudley laughed.

"Ha! You're one of _those _aren't you?"

She shrank back further, and his expression fell.

"I-" he cleared his throat, and went back under the television. Awkward silence reigned.

"You're not exactly snowy-recorded either." Philomene muttered, almost angrily.

His pudgy face came back around again "What, are you then?"

"I'm not a bully. I never took someone's doll when they were little."

"That was first grade!"

"You threw it in the river."

"It was _first grade_."

"And you've changed since then?"

He stopped, and looked away. His voice came out strangled, like he wasn't sure if he should be ashamed or just puff up to cover his wounded feelings.

"What- like you've never done something bad? Never told a lie?"

Philomene stopped short as well, and transferred her stare to the computer screen. They stayed that way for a while, and then suddenly Dudley threw down the cords.

"This isn't working." He thought for a second, and then wormed his way up from the floor "You're mad at me cause of the doll right?"

She wasn't, not really, but he continued anyway.

"We'll make a new one. You said you were going to teach me sewing."

Philomene's mouth quirked into a smile "Dress making."

"Well, turn that into doll making, and you have yourself a deal."

He held out a hand, and Philomene took it. She closed the laptop, put it on the table next to the discarded box of cords, and they headed off to dig out a box of needles and thread instead.

Above the house, a feathery shadow circled. It went around the block a couple times, scanning the houses. At number four privet drive, Harry poked his head out of the window, but it wasn't interested in him. Instead, headed towards Philomene's house, and swooped in an open window.

Jenny was sitting there, and she squealed when the great owl dove in. The owl, seeing the look in her eyes, took a couple hops back, and reluctantly held out a leg. Jenny nodded, and obediently untied the letter there. She gave the owl a wave:

"She's busy right now, but I'll give it to her, okay?"

As if it understood (and maybe it did), the owl took a couple more hops to return to the windowsill, and then took off. Jenny waved bye-bye to it, and then set about examining the letter.

To: Philomene Bagley

From: Estelle Reedflower


End file.
